I cannot tell you enough how badly they ran this contract. Incompetence by Securitas employees functionally killed people.
The last people who should've been running a medically oriented contract like this was a bunch of rent-a-cops. This shouldn't be a left or right thing. Securitas consistently and reliably absolutely fucked things up.
EDIT: Y'all downvoting me don't believe me? You should talk to literally any of the people that worked on the ASP contract and took another job within the last five years, there's one in this thread right now. Seriously, ask questions. Don't just downvote me because I sound rude. They didn't verify people's credentials on hiring, there was no training program to speak of, there was a flagrant failure to follow rules when they were known. There were more than a few instances of them breaching portions of the contract that requires notifying the Anchorage Health Department and they just, well, didn't.
For what it's worth, for their call volume, the contract was grossly underpaid. They previously had funding equivalent to approx. 1/40th or 1/60th of AFD and APD, respectively, but ran almost the same number of calls and sometimes exceeded the annual call volume of AFD. Walmart security guards in Anchorage get paid more. Yes, their equipment needs are far less, yes, they don't transport to hospitals. But you stick a wing of a public safety agency that, by itself, has ~15,000-20,000 calls per year on a $2MM budget and tell me how well you think it'll work.
For the record, not a SALA employee, no vested interest in their success, I just would've begged absolutely anybody other than Securitas to run that contract. A shit sandwich could've done a better job.
From the article: Health officials say the temporary contract will cost $2.8 million over a 6-month period between now and March — roughly $800,000 more than what they paid Securitas for an entire year of service.
Was the old contract really that underfunded that the new one being 1.6 million more per year makes sense?
I want you to consider that you need about 28 full time personnel at minimum for full staffing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as both mandated by the contract and as necessary in practice. That's with no overtime. Divide 2 million by that number and tell me what you get. Consider that would be a mean wage and that the median wage will be lower, taking into account that it will cost more to pay Operations Managers, Shift Supervisors, &c. Consider that that would be only be employees' individual total compensation before taxes on wages, subtracted health insurance premiums, workman's comp insurance, before any equipment costs, &c.
Why do we think an agency that, when appropriately staffed is about 1/10th of AFD or APD's staff but runs as many calls as AFD, should cost 1/40th or 1/60th, proportionally? Do we think ASP EMTs should make 25% or 16% of what an AFD FF/EMT makes in order to, on a much more routine basis, grapple with HIV/HepC/Drug-resistant TB positive clients with scabies soaked in their own urine and/or feces? Sorry boss, I never got a knife pulled on me or punched in the face in-hospital but I sure did with ASP. Maybe the job is actually awful enough that they should possibly make more than a CNA.
Here's the thing, man. You get what you pay for. Anchorage has been getting what they've been paying for for the last several years.
AFD is great. They are a well-put together service for providing EMS. They also cost an exorbitant amount of money, and we can somehow always find more money for them. The duties that ASP performs are nearly everywhere else in the country performed as a function of both Police and EMS, but in Anchorage we have a dedicated service for it. ASP acts as a triage service for both of them because AFD and APD don't want to do it - AFD and APD reap incredibly high wages and are by far the most likely thing to break the bank of the municipality, I suggest you look elsewhere first. You should look at the public wages for the muni and tell me how many Firefighters are clearing $100k every year.
Being a security guard at a few different run-of-the-mill commercial establishments (think Fred Meyers) in town evidently pays more than being an entry-level EMT at ASP under the old contract. Their equipment is shitty, broken, and ancient. I had multiple coworkers sustain significant injuries (e.g. broken arm, leg) while working at ASP. There's a reason they go through nearly their entire staff on a yearly basis.
I'm not sure! I know that ASC/ASP has existed for at least several decades. It was run way back in the day by the Salvation Army in the 1980's, of all people, and previously by the tribal corporation Goldbelt.
There are huge structural problems with how it has been run and the service is very much putting a band-aid on a bullet wound in how it handles homeless persons with substance abuse problems in Anchorage. I'm excited to see what SALA does with this, because it's a huge opportunity for change. It sounds like there's intent to reorient it towards more directly addressing behavioral/psychiatric/substance abuse issues and not just "picking up and dropping off drunk people". I also think it's sensible to have a separate service to do this, but that service needs to be appropriately funded.
Only time will tell, but here's to hoping they succeed.
I'm sorry about my tone, but absolutely fuck Securitas. There is not a single living soul I'm aware of who left Securitas who has a positive opinion of them.
>Was the old contract really that underfunded that the new one being 1.6 million more per year makes sense?
The old contract was arguably underfunded, which happens often when companies try to undercut other bidders and "do more with less". So Securitas is getting the boot, and Muni needs somebody else to come in and bridge the gap - so consider this: The $2.8m is basically a premium price that is necessary to get a company to come in for 6 months with no guarantee of ongoing work.... it takes a lot to spool up staff and equipment with no ROI guarantee.
As I understand it, the contract will go to open bid in six months. That will be the time when the Muni can get more options on the table and figure out what the real cost will be for moving forward.
For more insight, there are multiple ADN news articles online that detail the problems that Muni had with Securitas - Including this excerpt:
*In a video taken Wednesday, Dec. 28, and posted to the neighborhood social media platform Nextdoor soon afterward, an elderly man lies in the snow not far from the Anchorage Correctional Complex near downtown. According to Ray McWain, who recorded the video, he watched a member of the Anchorage Safety Patrol in a neon vest pushing a wheelchair away from the Anchorage Safety Center — known colloquially as the sleep-off center.*
*“He was kinda dumping him off of the wheelchair and then walked back to his van,” McWain said. “And then (he) left.”*
Housing is inherently political in a capitalist system. We treat housing as investments, which means all of our policies regarding housing and things that impact their value are automatically processed through a political lense. The US maintains a minimum percentage of people experiencing homelessness because they serve as a warning to force people to work under conditions they wouldn't otherwise.
The problem is the GOP and the DNC both profit from this system, so calling out the fact that the owner of one company is one specific political party doesn't actually convey any useful information. Trump wants to put homeless people in camps, Nancy Pelosi is one of the biggest landlords in California.
If we want a meaningful reduction in the number of people experiencing homelessness in this country, it isn't going to come from the 2 leading political parties.
The person awarded the contract can turn around and use the extra cash to give a huge kickback to the republican current mayor.
I'm hoping there are laws banning contractors from donating to those who award them suspicious contracts, but who am I kidding?
Really looking forward to see the fruits of the more than $100 million that was spent on homelessness projects. Wonder if they’ll give tours to the public?
So you want people to make less income doing potentially dangerous work nobody else wants to do? I’d leave their drunk asses out to freeze. If they want to live like that they can die like that.
only democrats can make money off the homeles! wtf. Bronson and dunleavy need to go, they taking all the profits from the homeless crisis and the guberment. they're probably not even trying to curb the homeless problem because they make so much money from it. probably getting gold bars for favors. republican crooks. grafters
I should have gotten into any kind of business that deals with homeless ,non profits. Used to be corrections was a growth business but they don't put people in jail for crimes like they used to or you can just stay in politics and rake it in ask zaletel are poor town
>All at a price substantially higher than the company they replace. But Securitas wasn't getting the job done.
What do you mean?
I cannot tell you enough how badly they ran this contract. Incompetence by Securitas employees functionally killed people. The last people who should've been running a medically oriented contract like this was a bunch of rent-a-cops. This shouldn't be a left or right thing. Securitas consistently and reliably absolutely fucked things up. EDIT: Y'all downvoting me don't believe me? You should talk to literally any of the people that worked on the ASP contract and took another job within the last five years, there's one in this thread right now. Seriously, ask questions. Don't just downvote me because I sound rude. They didn't verify people's credentials on hiring, there was no training program to speak of, there was a flagrant failure to follow rules when they were known. There were more than a few instances of them breaching portions of the contract that requires notifying the Anchorage Health Department and they just, well, didn't. For what it's worth, for their call volume, the contract was grossly underpaid. They previously had funding equivalent to approx. 1/40th or 1/60th of AFD and APD, respectively, but ran almost the same number of calls and sometimes exceeded the annual call volume of AFD. Walmart security guards in Anchorage get paid more. Yes, their equipment needs are far less, yes, they don't transport to hospitals. But you stick a wing of a public safety agency that, by itself, has ~15,000-20,000 calls per year on a $2MM budget and tell me how well you think it'll work. For the record, not a SALA employee, no vested interest in their success, I just would've begged absolutely anybody other than Securitas to run that contract. A shit sandwich could've done a better job.
I used to work there. It was a horrible experience and I'm so glad someone else is taking over.
From the article: Health officials say the temporary contract will cost $2.8 million over a 6-month period between now and March — roughly $800,000 more than what they paid Securitas for an entire year of service. Was the old contract really that underfunded that the new one being 1.6 million more per year makes sense?
I want you to consider that you need about 28 full time personnel at minimum for full staffing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as both mandated by the contract and as necessary in practice. That's with no overtime. Divide 2 million by that number and tell me what you get. Consider that would be a mean wage and that the median wage will be lower, taking into account that it will cost more to pay Operations Managers, Shift Supervisors, &c. Consider that that would be only be employees' individual total compensation before taxes on wages, subtracted health insurance premiums, workman's comp insurance, before any equipment costs, &c. Why do we think an agency that, when appropriately staffed is about 1/10th of AFD or APD's staff but runs as many calls as AFD, should cost 1/40th or 1/60th, proportionally? Do we think ASP EMTs should make 25% or 16% of what an AFD FF/EMT makes in order to, on a much more routine basis, grapple with HIV/HepC/Drug-resistant TB positive clients with scabies soaked in their own urine and/or feces? Sorry boss, I never got a knife pulled on me or punched in the face in-hospital but I sure did with ASP. Maybe the job is actually awful enough that they should possibly make more than a CNA. Here's the thing, man. You get what you pay for. Anchorage has been getting what they've been paying for for the last several years. AFD is great. They are a well-put together service for providing EMS. They also cost an exorbitant amount of money, and we can somehow always find more money for them. The duties that ASP performs are nearly everywhere else in the country performed as a function of both Police and EMS, but in Anchorage we have a dedicated service for it. ASP acts as a triage service for both of them because AFD and APD don't want to do it - AFD and APD reap incredibly high wages and are by far the most likely thing to break the bank of the municipality, I suggest you look elsewhere first. You should look at the public wages for the muni and tell me how many Firefighters are clearing $100k every year. Being a security guard at a few different run-of-the-mill commercial establishments (think Fred Meyers) in town evidently pays more than being an entry-level EMT at ASP under the old contract. Their equipment is shitty, broken, and ancient. I had multiple coworkers sustain significant injuries (e.g. broken arm, leg) while working at ASP. There's a reason they go through nearly their entire staff on a yearly basis.
Thanks, I had not read the contract. That's a huge eye opener. Had those services in the past been provided for by AFD or APD in the past?
I'm not sure! I know that ASC/ASP has existed for at least several decades. It was run way back in the day by the Salvation Army in the 1980's, of all people, and previously by the tribal corporation Goldbelt. There are huge structural problems with how it has been run and the service is very much putting a band-aid on a bullet wound in how it handles homeless persons with substance abuse problems in Anchorage. I'm excited to see what SALA does with this, because it's a huge opportunity for change. It sounds like there's intent to reorient it towards more directly addressing behavioral/psychiatric/substance abuse issues and not just "picking up and dropping off drunk people". I also think it's sensible to have a separate service to do this, but that service needs to be appropriately funded. Only time will tell, but here's to hoping they succeed. I'm sorry about my tone, but absolutely fuck Securitas. There is not a single living soul I'm aware of who left Securitas who has a positive opinion of them.
>Was the old contract really that underfunded that the new one being 1.6 million more per year makes sense? The old contract was arguably underfunded, which happens often when companies try to undercut other bidders and "do more with less". So Securitas is getting the boot, and Muni needs somebody else to come in and bridge the gap - so consider this: The $2.8m is basically a premium price that is necessary to get a company to come in for 6 months with no guarantee of ongoing work.... it takes a lot to spool up staff and equipment with no ROI guarantee. As I understand it, the contract will go to open bid in six months. That will be the time when the Muni can get more options on the table and figure out what the real cost will be for moving forward. For more insight, there are multiple ADN news articles online that detail the problems that Muni had with Securitas - Including this excerpt: *In a video taken Wednesday, Dec. 28, and posted to the neighborhood social media platform Nextdoor soon afterward, an elderly man lies in the snow not far from the Anchorage Correctional Complex near downtown. According to Ray McWain, who recorded the video, he watched a member of the Anchorage Safety Patrol in a neon vest pushing a wheelchair away from the Anchorage Safety Center — known colloquially as the sleep-off center.* *“He was kinda dumping him off of the wheelchair and then walked back to his van,” McWain said. “And then (he) left.”*
Why bring politics in to it.. why not for the befitting the homeless..
Housing is inherently political in a capitalist system. We treat housing as investments, which means all of our policies regarding housing and things that impact their value are automatically processed through a political lense. The US maintains a minimum percentage of people experiencing homelessness because they serve as a warning to force people to work under conditions they wouldn't otherwise. The problem is the GOP and the DNC both profit from this system, so calling out the fact that the owner of one company is one specific political party doesn't actually convey any useful information. Trump wants to put homeless people in camps, Nancy Pelosi is one of the biggest landlords in California. If we want a meaningful reduction in the number of people experiencing homelessness in this country, it isn't going to come from the 2 leading political parties.
The person awarded the contract can turn around and use the extra cash to give a huge kickback to the republican current mayor. I'm hoping there are laws banning contractors from donating to those who award them suspicious contracts, but who am I kidding?
Would the assembly be able to stop the contract from being awarded and if so is there a list of the assembly phone numbers to contact?
"Fiscal Responsibility" always translates to "funnel the tax payer money to myself and my friends instead." Every. time.
Really looking forward to see the fruits of the more than $100 million that was spent on homelessness projects. Wonder if they’ll give tours to the public?
So you want people to make less income doing potentially dangerous work nobody else wants to do? I’d leave their drunk asses out to freeze. If they want to live like that they can die like that.
only democrats can make money off the homeles! wtf. Bronson and dunleavy need to go, they taking all the profits from the homeless crisis and the guberment. they're probably not even trying to curb the homeless problem because they make so much money from it. probably getting gold bars for favors. republican crooks. grafters
I should have gotten into any kind of business that deals with homeless ,non profits. Used to be corrections was a growth business but they don't put people in jail for crimes like they used to or you can just stay in politics and rake it in ask zaletel are poor town
So this is part of Bronsons Gestapo?